1. Field of the Invention
The field of the present invention relates generally to packs for pourable products, and more particularly to such packs that consist of an inner container surrounded by a separable supporting jacket.
2. Discussion of Related Art
This invention relates to a pack for pourable products, such as liquids or free-flowing fine granules or the like, which consists of an inner thin-walled blown plastic container intended to hold the product and of a base- and cover-free supporting jacket with an upper supporting edge which surrounds the blown plastic container and bears against it in the in-use position of the pack, the blown plastic container preferably being provided with an upper bearing shoulder for resting on the supporting edge of the supporting jacket and comprising a recess. The supporting jacket is provided with laps which are designed to fold at least locally into the recess and to serve as fixing elements for the supporting jacket and which form a carrying handle, detent means being provided for the folded laps.
One such pack is known from applicants' DE 39 21 258 A1. In this known pack, the blown plastic container can be made by blow molding from a blow-moldable plastic so that the plastic content of the pack can be kept very small. The pack is made sufficiently stable by the supporting jacket of paper, cardboard, corrugated paper or a similar material. The handling properties are guaranteed by the recess in the container and the corresponding opening in the supporting jacket. In addition, optimal support of the plastic container is achieved via the upper supporting edge of the container on which the bearing shoulder of the blown plastic container rests in use. The two parts of the pack (blown plastic container and supporting jacket) are formed by the laps of the supporting jacket which are designed to be folded into the recess and which, folded together, also form the carrying handle of the pack.
With this known pack, it is readily possible by virtue of the design of the laps to join the two parts of the pack to one another and also to separate them from one another so that they may be separately recycled. After emptying the pack, the user may separate the two parts of the pack from one another and dispose of them separately. In particular, the outer supporting jacket of the pack may be disposed of as wastepaper. Although this known pack is thus very user- and recycling-friendly, it still has disadvantages. In the known pack, the connection between the two parts of the pack in its in-use state is still not entirely safe, as is necessary particularly when the pack is completely full.